Little Moments Like That
by ktlynrose
Summary: This is a work in progress... And I am not so sure about the title. This is a collection of song fics based on the characters of MY FAVORITE SHOW EVER- One Tree Hill! I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there, I am starting another story. I know, I know, I shouldn't be but this is not a traditional story. It is a collection of song fics based on the couples of One Tree Hill. So each chapter is a story in and of itself. I hope you like them. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or the songs/lyrics behind each chapter. **

* * *

_Life is not made up of one memory; it is made up of a billion little moments that are then thrown together into a messy sometimes downright disastrous but wonderful catastrophe that is called a lifetime. There are ups and downs, twists and turns, and times whe__n you just want to die. But when you can get through those hard times there will always be better times as long as you trust that there will be and let yourself truly live._

Chapter One: "Little Moments"

A beautiful clear day in May...

The day was hot, but thankfully almost over. It was about 4:30 in the evening and the sun was making its way across the sky to set in the distance. It had been one of those days that were so muggy that even the soles of your shoes would stick to your feet as you walked along, not to mention the clothes on your back. Within minutes of leaving the comfort of your air-conditioned home or car, any fabric you wore would probably have been soaked through with a mixture of humidity and sweat. The soon-to-be disappearing sun was a relief to everyone in the town of Tree Hill, NC.

Keith Scott let out a contented sigh as he sat on his porch swing watching the sun set west. The display of colors on the horizon was breathtaking. There were reds, oranges and pinks, even some purple on the eastern horizon that blended with the many other shades of colors that made up the vivid sky laid out for the world to see. The only thing that would make this better was something to drink. He was parched.

"Wow. The sun set is beautiful tonight," the man heard from behind him. It was a familiar voice, the very familiar voice of his wife of ten years. Sometimes he couldn't believe that she married him and that she stayed with him all these years. She was the most beautiful sight in the world to him, more so than the rich and vibrant sun set that was happening in the distance.

She started walking towards the swing that he occupied. That's when he noticed the two glasses that she had in her hands.

"Whatcha got there?" He asks sending the woman a smile. She sat down on the swing and placed a glass in his outstretched hand.

"Just some iced tea. It's hot out here, thought you might want a refreshment."

"Oh, you know me so well." He sipped his tea as she settled onto the seat. He raised his arm and settled it on the back of the swing and she moved closer into his side. The two watched the sky until the sun was completely gone in a comfortable silence, the slight breeze rustling the leaves of the trees that surrounded the house the only sound that could be heard. Every once in a while the couple could hear the hum of a swamp cooler starting down the street.

Keith let out a contented sigh as what light was left began to fade and the sky turned its nightly shade of inky blue. The stars in the sky illuminated the darkness. The forecasted full moon had yet to make its appearance. There was, however, an owl in a nearby tree that would let out a call every few minutes.

Keith tried to swivel in his spot on the swing to see if he could spot the perched creature. He could not quite maneuver to see it because of the woman sitting next to him, leaning into him. With her body weighing against him heavily, that's when he realized that she had fallen asleep. The peacefulness of the evening must have lulled her to sleep. In fact he was feeling sleepy as well. He figured they should move this inside.

He went to wake her up as he whispered her name close to her ear. He then kissed the side of her head and she let out a sigh of contentment. Her eyes slowly opened, and she glanced his way. They shared a short but extremely sweet kiss.

When she pulled away she went to grab the half-full glass of sweet tea that she had brought out for herself before the sun had set.

Just then, a large bird flew by- it was the evasive owl. The experience startled the short-haired brunette half to death, and she jumped in surprise. Her glassware had tipped in the commotion and the cold liquid was spilled down the entirety of the front of his shirt.

"Oh, shit Keith." Karen cried out as he hopped up in surprise. The ice cold liquid felt good against his heated skin but had startled him nonetheless; as had what his wife had just said in her astonishment. She had yet to realize what she had just let slip from her pure lips.

Keith looked at her as if she were an alien. That's how foreign that word sounded coming from his loving wife. He could only remember one other time that he heard her utter that dirty word. He remembered the particular day when they were still in high school.

_About fourteen years ago…_

Keith Scott sat in the driver's seat of his rusted yellow F-100. It had been his dad's when he was growing up and had since broken down. In the last couple of years the two had worked to fix it up to a drivable condition. In fact, he was supposed to be getting a can of paint to touch up the paint job. Instead he was sitting in his girlfriend's driveway waiting for her to come down the steps that led up to the front door of her split-level home.

He kept the engine running as he waited for her. He was going to teach her how to drive manual. She just had to get her pretty little butt down there.

When he saw her skipping down the steps, her yellow sundress lifting with the wind beneath it; his face lit up with a bright smile. He loved just watching her walk. She was the most graceful person that he had ever met, aside from his mom. Her presence in any room made the room all that much brighter.

Once she arrived at the driver's side window she looked at him; her smile just as bright as his. She popped up on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. He sent her a wink.

She walked around to the passenger side and opened the door to climb in. After closing the door, she looked at him. She leaned over, and their lips met in a tantalizing, one could say sinful, kiss. Her hands wrapped around his neck as his pulled her closer across the seat.

He loved the taste of her. She tasted like strawberries and cream.

"Hi." He started, once they broke away from each other.

"Hiya," She returned with a breathless voice. He could hear the joy and excitement laced in her tone.

"You ready for this?" He asked.

"Heck yes." She confirmed, reaching for the seat-belt and buckling up.

Once the strap was secure, he expertly backed up and drove off down the road.

The two drove in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Keith turned on the dial on his radio unit. On came "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner.

"Man, I love this song." He said as he turned it up a little. He started to tap his steering wheel along to the beat. Karen was getting into it as well. She started singing the chorus. He glanced over at his girlfriend then, as she sang along a little off key. _She really is stunning._ He grinned.

With his eyes still on the road, the two listened to more songs on the way to their destination; an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of town.

He pulled the truck to a stop, putting the stick shift into park. He turned towards her and noticed her smile had faded a little. Her nerves were beginning to show. Her hands were fidgeting.

He reached over to clasp his hands with hers, stilling her nervous movements. She looked at him then, seeing his reassuring smile. "You ready for this?"

"I think so." She answered.

"Look Kare, you have nothing to be afraid of. I'll be right here. And if all else fails just slam on the brake." The young man reassured her. After a minute or two of silence, he spoke again, "You're gonna do great."

He kissed her on the cheek and pulled away from her. He opened the door to jump out just as she did the same. He winked at her as they walked by each other. She giggled. He always made her feel so safe.

With the two situated in their new positions, he began by instructing her about the differences between a manual and an automatic. He then went into an explanation about how this particular truck was different than other manuals. It was an old vehicle after all. He explained how she had to press down hard on the brake as the key was rotated in the ignition to turn on the old beat-up truck. He explained the process of switching gears alternating between the clutch, the brake and the gas. Ten minutes later, he wrapped up his talk by saying one last thing.

"Okay, when you're ready, we will start off slow."

A few minutes later, her nerves had steadied and she did just that, slowly doing as he had instructed her.

The young couple spent the next few hours in the parking lot, taking a break to eat the picnic lunch he had packed earlier that day. They set up on a patch of grass right by the lot. His mom had helped him pack the basket with salad and chicken fixings. His girlfriend was very grateful and showed him just how much as they messed around on the picnic blanket after the food had been consumed and put away.

After she felt confident enough, he suggested she drive them back to her house.

"I don't know Keith. You think I'm ready for that?" She was back to being nervous.

"Heck yes, I think you're ready. I don't think you're that much of a menace to other driver's on the road." He joked, making the smile jump back to her mouth. He always knew what to say to make her smile. They were perfectly suited for each other.

She proceeded to make her way back to her house, while Keith was in charge of the music.

Twenty minutes later, she pulled back into the driveway of her parent's house. She went to put the stick shift in park. It took a little effort on her part but eventually she got it. She glanced over at her boyfriend who was giving her a smirk. She smiled softly back at him and reached over to place a gentle hand on his cheek. He was reaching for her when her foot slipped off of the brake and with it being an old truck there was a certain thing that she forgot to do to turn it off properly. He had forgotten to mention that particular information to her, seeing as how the parking lot they had been driving in was flat and her driveway, well, was not. It had just slipped his mind.

Neither of them noticed as the truck crept backwards in the driveway, until they picked up a little bit of speed.

"Woah!" The young man yelled as the crew cab hit something behind them.

"Shit!" the young brunette called out, but clasped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she had said.

The young man sitting in the passenger seat turned his head to the girl seated next to him with wide eyes. He had never heard her swear before.

His shock turned to amusement as he let out a small chuckle when he could tell she was embarrassed. Her face was the color of a tomato. It wasn't like he could be mad at the beautiful girl sitting beside him. It was after all an old truck and to him she was the cutest thing this side of the sun. He didn't even know what they hit, for all he knew they could have hit a person. (They didn't.)

...

He came back to the present as Karen was attempting to apologize once again. He started laughing at the memory that had invaded his thoughts at that particular moment with his wife. She gave him an exasperated glare, thinking he was laughing at her. Her hand on her hip in defiance of the hilarity of the situation they now found themselves in.

What with his laughter permeating the air around her, she could not hold herself together either, and she started to laugh as well.

Once they had both calmed down, she suggested they go inside and that he change out of the now wet shirt. He accepted the offered hand and the couple made their way inside their home.

_Yeah, I live for little moments like that..._

A few minutes had passed and Karen was in the kitchen heating up some plates of leftover spaghetti from the night before. She made sure she put heaps of cheese on each before setting them on the turntable in the microwave. When the first one was done she put it on the kitchen table and put the second one in to repeat the process. She called Keith to let him know dinner was ready. By the time he made his appearance in the kitchen of their two-bedroom house, the second plate was ready to be pulled out. The two sat down to eat the day-old spaghetti. They ate; exchanging conversation as they devoured their food.

When their plates were cleaned off and safely in the dishwasher, which Keith loaded and Karen rinsed, they pulled out a carton of ice cream. Keith grabbed the bowls as Karen grabbed the various condiments that would go on top of the delicious treat. They had chocolate syrup and caramel, whipped cream and chopped peanuts. She dished out a couple of scoops in each bowl while he grabbed the spoons and heated up the caramel. He knew that she loved her caramel warmed when she drizzled it over the top of her ice cream.

Now, they could have chosen an ice cream flavor that had all of their favorite condiments in it, but there is something about being able to make your own little ice cream sundae that appealed to them on that particular night in May.

They were celebrating after all. Karen had given him a very early birthday gift in the form of a positive pregnancy test. She had wanted to bake him a cake but they both knew how that had turned out last time.

_Last July..._

It was Keith's birthday. It was a big one too. The dreaded 3-0. Yep, he was turning 30!

He didn't particularly feel like he was older than he was the day before. He didn't want to make a huge deal out of the milestone age. Karen, on the hand, had a few surprises for him that day, starting with breakfast in bed. She made him his favorite, her famous waffle recipe with the whole works, bacon, eggs, hash-browns. Of course it also was not complete without a side of warm maple syrup and orange juice.

Throughout the day, she had little surprises for him. There was a special treat in his lunch when he opened it up during his break; a treat and a note. He found a present in his truck after work. Small things like that, that made him fall even more in love with her. If that was even possible.

That evening when he had returned home from work she was waiting for him with his favorite dinner, steak and potatoes. He was a simple man and liked the simple things in life. You could never go wrong with an expertly seared steak.

As they sat down to eat, Keith could see the steam emanating from the garlic bread. It had probably just been taken out of the oven. The meal was consumed with a bottle of red wine that was paired nicely with the marinated steak. The two lovebirds talked as they ate their food and before long, their plates were empty. After topping off their glasses with the rest of the wine, they set about cleaning up from dinner. Most of the clean-up had been done before and so all they had were their plates and the serving dishes that were on the table. They washed the dishes in record time.

"Why don't you go relax for a little bit? I have another surprise for you for dessert."

He acquiesced and walked out of the kitchen to go sit in the living room. Karen heard the TV turn on but could not quite make out what the program was. But it didn't really matter to her, she had a cake to finish.

...

"Okay, the cake is in the oven." Karen said twenty minutes later as she walked into the living room where her husband was seated on the couch. "Whatcha watchin'?"

"McClintock." He answered, his eyes lingering on the television. She sat down next to him and watched the old western. She did not particularly mind watching the movie. It reminded her of simpler times when she was a kid and she would watch it with her dad, who was a huge John Wayne fan. She didn't mind this retelling of Shakespeare's _Taming of the Shrew_.

Before long she grew bored and shifted her eyes to watch her husband's face instead. Just by glancing at him, she could tell how invested in the program he was. His face was locked on the television set and every emotion possible could be read on his face. Karen smiled at the worried expression on his face at that moment.

He must have felt her eyes on him. He turned towards her, catching her by surprise. Her smile grew at the loving look on his face. He leaned towards her and gave her a modest yet affectionate kiss. She could feel the passion coursing through her veins even during such a simple kiss.

...

In the distance, the couple could hear an alarm going off. She was the first to break off the heated and passionate make-out session. What had only started as a simple kiss had hence transformed into an ardent "over-the-clothes" snogging.

"Oh, no! The cake." She cried as she pushed him off of her and made a mad dash for the kitchen.

Keith smiled and laughed. _His girl was so funny sometimes_.

Just when the smell of smoke registered in his brain, the smoke detector down the hall went off, which set off a chain reaction of the rest of them. The house was abuzz with the incessant beeping sound coming from the alarms all over the house.

He sighed as he got up off the couch and made his way to the kitchen, where the smell was even worse, with a hint of lemon in the air. He found his wife's form by the oven. She had just taken the burnt beyond recognition cake out. She forcefully set it down on the stove top. It was certainly too late for the lemon cake she had slaved away all morning on.

The birthday boy could tell something was wrong with the girl standing in front of him. Her shoulders were slumped forward and he could see the tall tale signs of a tearful moment as those same shoulders started to shake with her sniffles. Next came a sob as her emotions overcame her. But before she could get even the first tear out, he had embraced her from behind.

"It's alright, Kare." He said, trying not to laugh at the young woman's expense.

She turned around with her sad expression directed at him, still in his arms. She could clearly see his barely hidden amusement. She frowned and said, "don't laugh at me. It's not funny."

She glanced at the ground with her down-trodden countenance, not wanting to see the glimmer of mirth on her husband's face. Things were never boring when you had Karen Scott in your life. She was easily distracted, sometimes to a fault. As with most things in life though, it's the imperfections that make it perfect.

_Yeah, I live for little moments like that_.

...

_An ordinary day in the last odd fifteen years..._

The two newly weds, seeing as how they had not been married but a year, as of yet, had decided to go hiking for the day. They packed up a few things to take with them. They had dressed the part, a few layers on that they could then peel off at their leisure. They had even taken a few days worth of food, just in case. You never knew what would happen with these two together.

Once they were all ready to go, they hopped into Karen's Jeep Cherokee and rambled down the road to their destination, a hiking trail in the next town over.

After arriving at the impromptu spot, the two ambled out of the car. Keith threw the pack with all of their stuff on his back as Karen put some chapstick on. He held out his hand, and she took it. The couple made their way hand in hand to the trailhead.

...

Karen gave a 'hmmph' as she stopped in her tracks, glancing at the map in her hands once again. She turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. Keith, being where he was standing-right behind her, was in the way. He stopped her body from running into his and moved when she looked up at him, away from the map.

They walked for a few more minutes when she stopped again, changing directions once again to walk perpendicular to their previous course.

When it happened a third time, the young man had finally had enough. He didn't even know if his wife knew how to read the map that she clutched in her hands.

They were lost. Keith and Karen Scott were lost. He could admit that to himself as his wife of almost a year looked at the map in her hands. She turned it this way and that, as if turning it just so would tell her which way to go. As if it were a magic map. But he knew that there were no ifs, and, or buts about it. They were officially and truly lost. But they were together. He decided to brooch the subject carefully with his wife.

"Hey hone. I think we might be lost." He said, gaining her attention away from the blasted guide in her hands.

"What makes you say that, Keith?" Karen glanced his way with narrowed eyes. She stood with one hand fisted on her hip, holding the map haphazardly away from her body.

"Not that I'm not loving the path were taking to get back to the car, but are you sure you know the way back to the car?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Karen's left eyebrow lifted, and she stated with a tilt of the head "I know how to read a map, Keith."

His thoughts were skeptical and showed on his face. He shrugged it off as she went back to looking at the map. "See here it says..." She walked toward him to show him something but lost her place as soon as she reached him. She looked up at him, as if to say _'give me a minute'. _He shrugged and waited for her to find her train of thought and place on the map once again. After a minute when she looked back at him, her expression was different. She had resigned herself to the facts at hand. She didn't know how to read the guide, she didn't know where in the heck they were, or how to get back to their car. She looked down at her hands as she folded up the map.

He took her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye. His countenance softened towards her as she looked at him with pleading eyes. He slid his hands down her arms, calming her as they made their progress to her hands. He clasped her hands in his and gazed at her with such love and devotion that her knees went week. She had a hard time standing up when he beheld her like that. But she stood her ground, still holding his hands.

"We are lost. But at least we have each other." He said smiling.

_Yeah, I live for little moments like that_.

...

Coming back to the present from his memories, he noticed his bride had again fallen asleep. It had happened as they watched a movie, later that night.

All in all, it had been a good day. They sat together, just as they had on the porch swing, but in a more comfortable setting. She watched with her head in the crook of his shoulder. By the end of the movie, she was fast asleep. The combination of the wine with dinner and the comfortableness of him beside her, had lolled her to sleep.

He knew she must be comfortable as he glanced down at her, because he was far from it. The entirety of his right arm had fallen asleep a few minutes ago. The credits started to roll on the Television screen in front of the couch that the two occupied. His arm started to tingle and he just about moved it from underneath her sleeping figure. She looked so peaceful and angelic with the light from the now visible moon seeping in from the window. He couldn't bear to wake her up.

He lived for moments like this where he could say for certain that his heart truly belonged to her.

* * *

**Hope you liked the first installment! I have had this planned for a year or more. I just had to find the time and inspiration to getting around to finishing it. I knew I wanted to get some stories written for February for this collection because they are all based mostly on love songs which fit perfectly with this month or last month, depending on when I get this up. This is a few weeks late...I didn't really edit this that well. I just really wanted to get it up. I am not really sure I liked the ending that much. It feels like it is missing something right before that last line.  
**

**Let me know your thoughts? Did you like the couple I chose for the song? **

**Also, how was the format at the beginning? I didn't write too long of an author's note did I? Should I put in all the lyrics for the song at the beginning? At the end? Should I let everyone guess the song? Or should I just leave it like it is and say that you should go listen to the song? It is a great song, go listen to it. I also wanted to know if you all would like to know what song I choose for the next chapter before I post it as well (that gets rid of the 'guessing the song name' idea? And should I put which couple I am writing about at the beginning or would that be too much?... Just let me know. **

**One more question: Should I just leave this collection, specifically for OTH or do you guys 0want me to add other couples from other fandoms as well? I only have a few songs that I found for others, while I have tons of OTH ones. **

**See ya!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there!**

**Just a short author's note.**

**AN: This chapter is coming out at a very ironic and coincidental time. You'll see what I mean after you read the fic. So have fun and don't hate me too much!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything...**

* * *

Haley James sat at the table. The table settings were perfect, the table cloth was in place and the food was staying warm in their serving dishes. Just one thing was missing, or one person to be more precise; Nathan Scott, her fiancé.

For the last hour or so she had been in the kitchen, slaving away on a supper that he had asked her to make that night. She had even made his favorite, Prime Rib, with all the fixings. And he wasn't even there yet!

They were supposed to be discussing their impending nuptials. They needed to start planning everything. The only thing that they had done so far was set a date, which was not this coming May but the next.

She was so excited to get to planning and contrary to popular belief and the norms of the culture, he was too. Nathan was not like other guys, he wanted to be completely involved and in the loop when it came to all things wedding. Everyone that Haley knew that had to plan a wedding did not have their future husband wanting to help with every little detail, like hers did. He wanted to be a part of everything. He even had a say on the dress, which to most bride's was unheard of. How did she get so lucky?

The couple had known one another their whole lives. Their dad's, Jimmy James and Dan Scott, were best friends who also grew up together. They had started their own business, Scott Motors, together in their hometown of Tree Hill, North Carolina. They were the best men at each others' weddings.

For as long as they could remember the engaged couple was a part of each others' life. They went to preschool together. When it came time to go into Kindergarten, Haley cried because she wasn't in the same class as Nathan. Her mom thought it was adorable, the two were inseparable.

And ever since then, the two were always in the same class. When it came time for them to enter high school, their schedules changed only a little. He tried out for the basketball team, although the tryout was pretty much a moot point. He was after all the son of the legendary Dan Scott, the leading record holder of everything regarding the game of basketball. She was more into her studies and became a tutor for those that were less fortunate, grades-wise. But they made sure to make time for each other. She went to all of his games. He waited for her after practice and they would walk home together from school everyday.

After a few dating mishaps with other people, they threw in the towel and finally got together at the end of their junior year. They went to college together, both with scholarships to Duke University, hers in academics and his in basketball.

While at Duke they broke up for a year and half, wanting to explore other options but eventually came back to each other before graduating their senior year. They had been together ever since, moving in together after college.

...

She looked over the table thinking something else was missing other than her elusive fiancé. She jumped up from the table then quickly made her way to the spare closet. She found the candles and brought a few out that matched the impeccable table settings. Once she had them set up on the table, she leaned over to light them. She straightened up, glancing back at the clock. It seemed like it hadn't even changed for the few minutes that she had been gone. It was five til eight and he should have been there by now. He was almost thirty minutes late. She decided to grab her laptop while she waited and get some work emails out of the way.

But Haley wasn't a particularly patient person. Every few minutes she would glance at the clock on the wall, as if it would tell her something different than the one right in front of her face on her computer. The minutes seemed to tick by too slowly for her taste, either way. She sighed as she noticed it was now only eight O'clock. She was astonished to see that it had only been five minutes.

At that moment she heard a car go by on the road in front of their modest two-story house and proceeded to look out the window. They lived in a quiet neighborhood, a cul-de-sac that usually only had a few cars go past. Those cars more than likely belonged to their neighbors, usually. This particular car did not slow down, and she sighed again as she noticed it had turned around and gone back the way it came. She waits a little longer, again looking to her computer for a distraction.

After answering the brunt of her emails from that evening, she peered at the clock on the wall. It read 8:30. She was surprised she had been able to distract herself for that long. Now she was officially getting worried. They had set their dinner for 7:30 and he was now an hour late. Nathan Scott was never late. If he was going to be late, he always called to let her know. Plus, before he left he said he would be home to help her cook as well.

She gets up from the seat at the table in front of the window to retrieve her purse where she had last seen her phone. She rummages through the messy bag and finds her phone at the very bottom. She holds her breath as she presses one on her speed dial. She listens with bated breath as it goes straight to his voicemail.

"Come on, Nathan. Where are you?" She couldn't help but comment aloud, as she tried again. She nervously ends the call when it went to voicemail once again.

She thought for a minute. _'Maybe Clay knows where he is. Yeah, he'll know.'_ She looked through her contacts and clicked on the correct name.

The young man answered on the first ring. "Hey Hales. How's it..."

Before he could finish his question she blurted out, "have you seen Nathan, by any chance? He was supposed to be here an hour ago and he hasn't shown up yet."

"Sorry, Haley. I haven't. We called it quits at the office a while ago." He mentioned and went on. "But he did say that he was going to stop by his brother's for a bit."

"Thanks Clay." She commented as they said their goodbyes.

Clay Evans was Nathan's business partner. Soon after Nathan's college basketball career had ended, he had been approached by a sandy-blonde smooth-talker who wanted the college athlete to come work for him at his newly acquired sport's agency. Nathan still had dreams of the NBA in his future. After that was ruled out as a possibility, the raven-haired baller decided to give the agent thing a try. He finished his degree after a few more years and went to work with Clay, the two becoming fast friends. Soon, Clay wanted to make him a partner and give him half of the agency's profits as well.

Nathan jumped at the chance to take on more responsibility, and it seemed as if everything was going smoothly for the two partners. They had a great roster of athletes and plus, had just signed a potential first-round draft pick, a quarterback out of Texas A & M. They had their eye on a few up and comers on the basketball D League circuit as well as a few other potential college athletes. A young junior named Quentin Fields was sure to do great things based out of the University of Miami.

Clay had been there for him in a time that she hadn't been and for that she would always be grateful to the self-confessed ladies man and perennial bachelor. It's not that she didn't like him, she loved him. It was just his man-whorish ways that she had a problem with. She knew that one day he would meet his match and she for one could not wait for that day.

Next she dialed another familiar number. The man on the other end picked up on the third ring.

He started off the same way Clay had and was interrupted in an almost identical manner.

"Have you seen Nathan? Clay said that he mentioned he might stop by your house on his way home."

"Sorry, Hales. I haven't seen him." He began and after a pause went on, "why? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no. It's alright, Luke. I'm just a little worried. He said he would be home before dinnertime and it's already past 8:30."

"Well, let me call around and get back to you." He commented.

"Thanks, Luke. You're the best."

"I know, I know." He continued, "alright. I'll call you back in a few."

She hangs up and goes to put her phone down on the table, but before she lets go of it, it rings. She lifts it, hoping to see Nathan's face pop up on the screen. It's a number that she doesn't recognize.

She slides the screen to answer. The voice on the other end asks her if she is speaking with Haley James. She answers "this is she." The conversation is mostly a blur to the young woman. All that registers in her mind is when the voice says, "something's happened. You should come right now." Her eyebrows lift with anxiety at that as she stands to absentmindedly grab her purse and ask "where?" She is given an answer as she heads out the door, remembering at the last second that the candles were still burning.

As she heads to the place in question, her mind goes back to this past December. She remembers the day so clearly as if it were yesterday...

_Just another ordinary December day..._

_The day was a little dreary, no sun shining seeing as how it was the middle of December. The day was cold and rainy at times, but that really didn't bother the young couple. They didn't mind the rain at all. In fact, they have had some great days in the rain. This day would shape up to be no exception to that. _

_She, in particular, loved the rain. She loved the thunder and lightning that usually came along with it. She loved the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the eaves of the house. She loved playing in the puddles along the side of the road after a good rain storm. She loved wearing her yellow rain jacket and matching boots because she did not like how wet she would get if she didn't. She even loved her quaint umbrella. But what she loved the most about the rain was the smell. _

_After a storm, like the one that was happening today, she would go outside and inhale. There was just nothing like the crystal clear smell of rain. It was wonderful!  
_

_And after pointing out this fact to him, he grew to like that aspect about rain as well. _

_The couple was inside sitting on the couch, after a wonderful meal, sipping the last remnants of their wine. They could hear the rain outside, because Haley had insisted on opening a few windows.  
_

_He had his arm rested against the couch, very loosely touching her shoulders. He looked at her and spoke first. __"We should go for a walk." He begins and then a moment later continues with, "want to?" _

_She lifted her eyebrows in surprise, glancing his way and stated, "it's pouring outside." _

_"Exactly." He smiled at the look on her face. _

_The two propelled themselves off of the couch, setting their empty glasses down. They took a few minutes to grab any rain paraphernalia they might need while they were outside. _

_Once they were ready, he grabbed the large two-person umbrella by the door. The two walked out the door arm in arm. As they walked down the front steps he leaned over and gave her exposed neck a smooch as she squeezed his arm and smiled. _

_They walked around the block in a comfortable silence. _

_Before leading her back into their yard though, he stopped her looking deep into her eyes. He handed her the umbrella as he took one of her hands in both of his. He bends down on his knee. _

_Haley could only watch on in mild amusement and slight shock. "Nathan, you're gonna get soaked."_

_He ignored her comment and said, "Haley, there are very few moments in my life that I really remember. And those that I do have always had one thing or person in common. That person was and is still you. I want you forever-forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly. I want to grow old with you." _

_"Yes, forever and always." She answered before he could go on and without even hearing the semblance of a proposal.  
_

_She pulls him up as he raises to meet her lips in a searing and passionate kiss. The umbrella was completely forgotten as they both get lost in the other's embrace, not even caring that they were getting soaked by the rain. _

...

Without realizing it, she had arrived at her destination. She pulls up to the entrance of the emergency wing at Tree Hill Memorial Hospital. She runs inside not even bothering to properly park her car. As she makes her way quickly to the front desk she can feel many eyes on her, but she doesn't care. All she cares about is seeing him, seeing Nathan. She wonders what happened and if he's okay.

When she reaches the front desk, she rambles out that she received a call on the behalf of her fiancé, Nathan Scott.

"Oh, right. Haley?" The elderly nurse asks and when the young woman in question nods she asks her to follow her. She leads the young woman through the hospital. To Haley it feels like there's a million halls, a maze that's never ending.

They stop in front of a closed door. Haley can feel it, him. He is on the other side of that door. The nurse reaches out and touches her on the arm to get her attention. So while Haley looks at the the nurse, she is not taking anything that she is saying in. "Your fiancé... hi... his car was t-boned tonight..."

It does register in her mind that the accident was a bad one. The nurse's face says as much. She can feel the tears prickling at her eyes, threatening to fall, but she holds them in as the nurse says, "you can go on in now."

It's bad. She can see that now for herself. The tubes exiting from every orifice imaginable and all the machines with the constant beeping, letting the professionals know what is going on inside his body. Her mind is blank and all she can do is stare at his body laying on the hospital bed in front of her.

She can't imagine how he must be feeling. His eyes are closed at the moment so she stands very still, hoping not to disturb him. But he must feel her presence as she felt his because a second later his eyes effervescent blue orbs turn to find her warm chocolate eyes. If he feels the pain, she can't tell from his sparkling eyes.

It's as if her feet are frozen to the floor. She drags her lead-like extremities over to his bedside and sits in the available chair there, their eyes never leaving the others. Her hand automatically reaches for his and her thumb immediately starts to stroke the outside of his hand.

She doesn't know if she should lean over and kiss him or not. It's what her heart and her body are telling her to do, to feel his lips on hers.

She doesn't realize it but she tightens her grip on his hand. "Hey Hales, you're death grip is a tad too tight." He reminds her with a smirk.

The smile only touches half of her lips and she loosens her hand from around his. Her head hangs low as she comes to terms with the fact that he is laying in a hospital bed with too many injuries to count.

To Haley it feels like hours later, but in reality was probably only minutes, when he reaches over with his other hand and lifts her gaze to his once again. "Hey, it's alright. I'm okay."

She lets out the shaky breath that she didn't realize she was holding in. He really was something.

...

"So, I think now is as good a time as any to talk about where we want to live."

"Nathan. You really think now is a good time to talk about this?"

"Hell yes. I want a big house, with lots of rooms, on a hillside." He said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, a big house." She remarked as he chuckled. "I wonder what we would do with all those rooms."

"Well, those are for the kids, of course." He looked at her as if she had grown another head since the last time he glanced at her.

"Oh right." She acquiesced. "And how do you suppose we will have all of these kids? I'm not sure that I would be able to handle all of them."

"Oh, don't worry. You'll be alright. Plus, you'll have me..." He trailed off as one of the monitors let out a weird noise, that neither one had heard before. A second later it resumed it's monotone drone. "It'll be a good life. We'll stay there forever and always, through the good and the bad and the ugly. That's where we'll grow old together, and always remember, whether rich or for poor or for better. I just know we will be that old couple that will still love each other when we are old and gray. Forever and always." _  
_

She couldn't help it then. His words were so heart-felt and sure that she had to lean over and kiss him as if her life depended on it. She did just that. He put everything that he had ever felt for her behind that kiss as did she. He held her face between his hands as she clasped one of her hands around his wrist, the other tangled up in his black as a raven's wing hair.

When they pulled away from each other, they were both breathless. His monitor was going wild with activity. They both laughed at the sounds that it was making until it was returned to normal.

She suddenly jumped up from her seat with a gleam in her eye, pressing the call button for the nurse. Not even a minute later, the door opened and in walked a petite young woman, around the same age as the couple occupying the room.

Haley turned towards the door to leave with the young woman, but stopped short of the door and just about ran back to Nathan's side. She mumbled out an "I'll be back in a few minutes," and gave him a peck on the lips. As she left the room with the nurse, Nathan heard her say, "I need a favor." And with that he was left alone with his own thoughts.

Outside in the hallway, Haley was telling the nurse her idea and asking if it was possible to do on such short notice.

The young woman said with a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye, "we'll see what we can do..."

A few minutes later, when Haley walks into the room again after talking with the nurse, Nathan knows something is about happen. She props the door open, walks over to her seat and sits right down as if nothing is wrong, leaving Nathan none the wiser to her plan.

He patiently waits as she settles and clasps her hand to his when he offers it. "So, what's goin' on Hales?"

"Oh, you'll see." She answers vaguely.

...

A few hours later, Haley finds herself slipping into the bed beside Nathan and curling up on her side, facing his chest. She proceeds to draw designs on his gown-covered pectoral muscles just to see if he can guess what they are. His eyes are closed at the moment as he concentrates. He is having a hard time focusing on her drawings because the sensation is so very calming. He can feel sleep overtaking him as he tries to stay alert in her presence. But within seconds of thinking that he succumbs to the overwhelming tiredness that has overcome him since he left work earlier that day.

Haley notices his breathing has evened out, as much as it can with all of the machines and tubes surrounding him, and gently places her hand over his heart and follows him into the land of dreams. It seems like only a few minutes but Haley is awakened by a soft knock on the door. Careful not to wake her sleeping fiancé up, she lifts her head and looks to the door, trying to register what it is she is seeing with her sleep-heavy eyelids. Standing there is a man dressed in black robes, carrying a leather-bound book in his arms. With him is the elderly nurse that welcomed Haley into the hospital and the young nurse that she had talked with only a few hours earlier.

The young engaged woman gently extricates herself from around her fiancé and makes her way to the door, wondering what is going on. "Haley, this is the hospital Chaplin, Greg Young. He would like to speak to you and Nathan for a moment."

That's when Haley remembered why this was all happening and that it was she that had set this all in motion. She couldn't wait to tell Nathan.

Her happiness turned to alarm as she heard the beeping of a machine in the room behind her turn to one long constant ear-piercing tone. The hospital personnel around her ran into the room, alerting her that something was wrong. She ran to the door as well just as she heard someone, a doctor probably, say "he's flatlined. Code Blue. I need the cart."

Haley called out, "what happened? What's happening?" Of course no one was listening to her, they were all busy trying to resuscitate the man laying in the hospital bed. They had wheeled in a cart with the defibrillator machine and where just getting it powered up.

The man using the paddles turned to one of the nurses and said, 'get her out of here, now." And with that she was ushered from the room with tears falling from her eyes. The young nurse that helped her stood with her and let her know what was happening. It didn't assuage the young woman's fears of her fiancé's well-being but it did calm her down a little bit.

...

The next afternoon...

Haley was holding onto Nathan and she didn't really feel like letting go. She had been so scared when he had flat lined the night before. She was sure nothing else in her entire life would scare her so much. She hated to think of not getting to say goodbye. But she had the chance now.

When the couple was ready, the Chaplin came in with his bible in hand. He opened up the old leather-bound book and read a few verses. "Love is patient, love is kind..." Haley drowned out the words that he was saying as she glanced at her future husband in the making. He was also looking her way and their eyes locked. He mouthed the words, 'I love you' and she finished with 'forever and always'. Nathan brings a hand up to her face and using his thumb, wipes away a fallen tear, his touch as light as a feather. She chuckles and lets her tears fall, knowing that they are happy tears.

The couple is brought back to the ceremony, when they hear laughter at the doorway. They had an audience. A few of the nurses on that floor were standing there as well as some patients. The Chaplin had thrown in a few jokes about his health for good measure.

The man dressed in black asked them a question then. "Did you two want to say your own vows? I know this is sort of spur of the moment but if you would like to say a few words to each other, now would be the time. Oh and do we have some rings."

Nathan was just about to answer, 'no,' when Haley beat him to it. "I actually borrowed these from the couple in 104c." She held out her hand that was not clasped with Nathan's and lo and behold there were two modest wedding rings in her palm. One was solid gold and the other, matching gold with diamonds encased within the band. She looked to the doorway and there they were smiling at the young couple in the room next to theirs.

She turns back to the man of her dreams, locking her eyes with his once more, and says,

_"I want you forever, forever and always_  
_Through the good and the bad and the ugly_  
_We'll grow old together, and always remember_  
_Whether happy or sad or whatever_  
_We'll still love each other, forever and always_  
_Forever and always, forever and always."_

He mouths along with her as he feels his strength start to wane. His body is giving up. From the corner of Haley's eye she can see some of the nurses ushering the others away from their doorway, to give them a little privacy. The Chaplin and young nurse stay behind and stand back from the couple. The nurse walks over to the heart monitor, assessing the beeps as they slow. His voice is low as he says,

_"I love you forever, forever and always  
Please just remember even if I'm not there  
I'll always love you, forever and always."_

Haley's tears, no longer happy, flow freely from her chocolate orbs. The machine monitoring his heart lets out that heartbreaking tone that signals his heart has stopped beating. The young woman at his side keels over his body, her face meeting his, her lips kissing his for what looks to be the last time. Her tears are falling on his face, making tear tracks of their own as they follow the contours of his visage to the sheets underneath him.

Haley notices the silence in the room a moment later, imagining that tone in her head still. She thinks in the very edges of her mind that the nurse probably turned it off. The also notices that no one is in the room with her anymore. They must have left to let her show her sorrow to no one but her late husband. She wouldn't have cared if they had stayed or not. It didn't really matter to her who saw her tear-stained face, her red rimmed eyes and sniffling nose. She didn't care about anything at the moment.

She sat in that hospital room for what felt like hours until she had cried all of her tears, or so she thought, for the thought of him would bring tears to her eyes for the rest of her life. Most of the time they would be happy tears but on her off-days she was so overcome with sorrow, she felt like she would die. Sometimes she felt like she couldn't go on, but she always seemed to pick herself back up. One day many years later, when nothing but the good times remained in her memory, she looked back and tears of joy would come to her eyes.

She promptly feel asleep, having pulled herself into the bed with him and slept soundly as if nothing had happened.

...

_A month later..._

Haley sat up in her bed, alone. The life inside of her dream slipping away from her mind, letting her know how much she had lost.

Today was the day. Today she would go visit him. She glanced over to the alarm clock on the bedside table, noticing the time. It was later than she thought. She pulled herself out of what used to be their bed and went about getting ready for the day ahead of her.

They had interred his body into the family plot a week after he had passed. To her it still felt like yesterday. It seemed to her that anything and everything reminded her of him. Just the other day, she found a pair of his socks under the bed and she cried her eyes out.

Most of the time, she was too numb to really feel that the situation she was in was real. That she would never see his face again, never see him smiling back at her with that charming smirk of his or his secret smile that was meant only for her eyes. Reality would sweep over her and she would be a mess once again.

Today, though, she knew she had to change and change quickly, because whether she wanted it to or not, life went on; hers would go on without him.

An hour later or so, she was ready to go. She grabbed her bag and made her way out the door. Before she locked up though, she remembered she wanted to set something at his grave and figured that he wouldn't have liked flowers, unless...

On her way to the cemetery, she stopped at the beach to pick some wildflowers, the purple ones that she knew he liked. She took the hair tie off of her wrist and wrapped it around the bunch as she made her way back to her car. It was really his car, he had bought it in high school. And even then it was considered an older model. It was a wonder it had lasted this long. But she wouldn't change it for the world because it reminded her of him.

She noticed as she drove that the day was cloudy but her window did not feel too cold. It looked like it might rain. When she opened her window there was a slight breeze in the air.

In a matter of minutes she was walking among the headstones at the local cemetery, flowers in hand. Once she had reached the appropriate spot she propped the makeshift bouquet of flowers on the headstone in front of her.

_Nathan Royal Scott  
August 15, 1988- March 4, 2016  
"Always and Forever"  
_

She sat in silence for a few minutes with her eyes closed, remembering and finding the right words to say. The breeze picked up at that point and she felt a few raindrops against her skin. Her hair billowed in the breeze as she opened her eyes. At that moment the clouds broke allowing in a little sunshine and she found the courage to speak.

She looked at the headstone again and without realizing it, placed her hand against her stomach. She glanced down to where her hand rested and said, "It looks like I might need that house on the hillside after all. Nice work daddy."

* * *

**I hope you liked it! It's a super sad song but I thought it would make a perfect one shot. Now I can tell you why it was ironic. I just have a lot of death and sadness going on around me at this moment in my life. But it's also a time of great success for me personally. I am graduating from college come the middle of May! And I have many job prospects and so little time to make up my damn mind...  
**

**I know there were a lot of breaks in the writing but I just couldn't come up with more between the bigger moments. And I hate ending things on sad notes so I had to add that last little bit, even if it was a little bittersweet. **

**I really wanted to get this out a few days ago, when it was still April. But alas, I wasn't quite finished then and I still needed to edit and make sure it  
flowed and made sense. It also ended up being way longer than I intended it to be, so I changed it at the last second to be a little shorter. If anyone does want the longer version please let me know and I will work on it some more, because it wasn't quite done... So now that you have read, please review! It would mean the world to me...  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, I have another installment in the song fic collection for you guys. Sorry it took a little longer than I wanted to get this out. I hope you will not be disappointed. Okay, I got nothing else to say and if I do, look for it at the bottom. So read on!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the songs that I use. They belong to the wonderful writers.**

* * *

The sunlight streaming in through the skylight is not what ultimately woke twenty-seven year old Nathan Scott up that September morning. It was what he heard that woke him up; his wife. She was next to him snoring up a storm. He turned his head to look at her and smiled. He couldn't understand how such a loud noise could come out of such a small person.

She was lying on her stomach, with her face towards him. Her left arm was stretched across his bare torso. He could see her light blue thin-strapped tank above the sheet that the rest of her body was tangled in. She had major bedhead. But to him she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

He turned slightly so that he was on his side, and he propped his head up with his elbow. He found the clock on the wall to see what time it was.

He was surprised at the time that he saw displayed back to him. Haley never slept this late; he did but she certainly didn't. She wasn't one to sleep in, even on Saturdays. He looked back at his wife lying next to him, deciding on the best way to wake her up. It was after all ten after 11:00 on the Saturday in question.

He leaned over and pressed his lips to the shoulder closest to him. She stirred but did not open her eyes. He pressed his lips harder but still light as a feather to her shoulder again, removing her strap to gain better access. He trailed butterfly kisses up from her shoulder to the side of her neck, hoping that would do the trick.

He knew it would. There was a fairly sensitive spot right underneath her jawline that almost always did the trick. Sure enough, he heard her let out a giggle as she opened her eyes.

"Boy, that's a good way to be woken up." She says.

"Hey sleepyhead, how'd you sleep?" The raven-haired man asked her as she turned over and sat up in the bed.

"Great. You?" She smiled.

"With you next to me? Awesome." He smirked at the blonde as her face turned a cherry red.

Once the young woman felt her heart stop racing and her pulse slow she said, "Nathan. thank you for last night. You know how stressed I've been with work lately. I know we didn't do anything too fancy but it was perfect so thank you for that."

"Baby, last night was hands down one of the best nights, I've had. No doubt." He sat up to answer her.

"Between the wonderful meal and that bottle of wine. By the way that was really good wine. We should get it more often."

Nathan smirked at his wife and commented; "I'll be sure to grab some next time at the store."

"You're teasing me." Haley pouted.

Nathan shook his head at the woman sitting next to him.

"Fine. I'm not talking to you until you get me more wine." She said glaring at him while she crossed her arms over her chest with force.

Nathan sat there looking at her for a minute and just as she looked away from him, he took her chin between his fingers forcibly turning her face back towards his. "You're cute when you're mad, you know that?"

Before she could answer he kissed the pout right off of her face, effectively ending the little spat. She moaned into his mouth as his tongue slipped past her lips. Her hands were fisted in his shirt. Once the need for air became apparent, they broke apart. They were still very close together, their breath coming hard and fast mingling together in the space between them.

Haley moved a little further away, putting more space between them as she let go of his shirt. She didn't move far, an arm's length because at that very moment, she set her hand on his cheek and said, "I remember that you're a sweet talker, you little charmer. That'll get you very far with me, Mister."

"Oh really."

"Yes really." She answered. She lay back down and turned to face him, resting her head on her popped up elbow.

"Is that why you married me?" He mirrored her movements.

"Well, it also helps that you're hot." Haley tried to say with a straight face.

"Funny." Nathan deadpans, narrowing his eyes at her. He knew just how to get back at her. He rolled on top of her and started tickling her. Her laughter filled the room. He knew all the perfect spots. She pleaded with him to stop, but he just tickled her more, until she was gasping for breath once again.

He focused his baby blue sapphires on her then, really considering her; her face as red as a tomato but her beauty breathtaking still. Her blonde wavy hair was fanned out on the pillow underneath her. Her warm chocolate eyes beheld him with such love. It was as if she could see right into his very soul with her penetrating gaze. Her mouth had the hint of a small smile, turning up at the sides. She looked content to just lay there with the weight of his body on top of her, their legs entwined in the sheets.

_Last night..._

_As soon as Haley Scott walked in the front door of her house, she noticed the heavenly smell wafting from the nearby kitchen. She dropped her stuff by the door and took off her shoes, hanging up her coat before walking away. She let her nose lead her to the kitchen and her waiting husband. When he heard her enter the room he looked up from his task._

_"Oh, good. You're here." He sent her a smirk and when she walked closer, he leaned down to greet her with a kiss, short and sweet. Pulling away, he smiled at her and said, "hi". She smiled back. "Hi." _

_He turned away from her, looking for something. A second later, he turned back with a wine glass in his hand. He handed it to her with another kiss.  
_

_"Oh thank you." She commented and took a sip. _

_"Bad day?" He asked with a questioning expression on his smiling face. _

_"Like you wouldn't believe." She answered, not giving him any more detail than that. She proceeded to take a large gulp of the red wine as Nathan looked on, puzzled at her answer. He let it go and went back to the task at hand. "So what is all of this?" _

_"I need a reason to make dinner for you?" _

_"Um... no. It's just... nevermind."_

_"What? Tell me." _

_"It's just that I'm supposed to be making dinner for us tonight."_

_"I know that. I just wanted to do something nice for you. And I know that you've been super busy at work lately." _

_"Well, whatever prompted this, I'm glad. And thank you, babe." _

_"Now, you should go get comfortable. Sit down, take a load off." _

_"You are too good to me." She said, pecking him on the cheek. She walked away to do as she was told. She changed into some comfy pajama shorts and a matching tank top. _

_She came back downstairs and by then dinner was ready. _

_..._

_After their dinner was cleared away, the two refilled their glasses making sure to bring the bottle with them to the living room. _

_Nathan turned their electronic fire place on. They had no need for a real wood stove because it was too hot in Northern Carolina, even during the winter. _

_The two sat down on the couch. Nathan grabbed the remote from the coffee table in front of the couch and pressed a few buttons, turning on the stereo system. it was already set to a Pandora station that they both loved. And the soft sounds of a saxophone could be heard coming from the surround sound speakers. _

_"You know it's supposed to rain tonight." As she said the words, the sound of thunder could be heard in the distance. It was a good thing most of the windows downstairs were open already. _

_Haley loved the rain. She thought it was so romantic, while Nathan could definitely do without. He tolerated it because she loved it so much. But as the rain started to fall outside, he felt a sense of peace wash over him. Sitting with his wife listening to the rain and the soft radio, he was content. He felt like he could do this for the rest of his life and be one happy man. _

_Just then a Marvin Gaye song came on. It was 'You're all I need to get by'; one of his favorites because they danced to the song at their wedding. He stood up from the couch and looked to the love of his life, stretching out a hand. She smiled with that special look in her eyes that she only reserved for him and grasped his hand to stand up. _

_They twirled around the fireplace to the special song until it changed to another. It was another Marvin Gaye song and Nathan grabbed the remote to turn it up. _

_The two lovebirds walked outside hand in hand and danced on the enclosed back porch in the dark as the rain poured down around them. _

* * *

Nathan rolled onto his back and sat up, moving to get off the bed. "Breakfast in bed?"

Haley let out a contented sigh and replied, "yes, please. And don't you mean Brunch?" She also moved to the edge and stood up.

"Whatever." He said, shaking his head and sending her an eye roll. The two proceeded downstairs together to fulfill their hunger needs.

They made pancakes, eggs and bacon, carrying it all upstairs on a tray. While Nathan had the food, Haley had two full glasses of orange juice in her hands. Once they had settled in the bed, after creating a sort of fort to eat in, they toasted to each other and started eating.

...

"You know I remember the day we first met. That same night I had a dream about you and let's just say that it was not suitable for children." Nathan said, their food having been long gone and the tray set aside. They were tangled up in the sheets once again, after a session of making love.

Haley gaped at him. "Nathan, you do know that we met in like the third grade, right?"

"Yeah, so? What's your point?"

"Well, we were kids. How could you have a dream about us that wasn't even suitable for yourself?" She giggled.

"Back then I thought girls had cooties so just holding your hand and kissing you was downright gross."

"Aww… you had a dream in third grade about me?" Haley asked and went on after seeing him nod. "That is so cute…"

"Cute. Cute? I was not cute. Manly is more like it." He squirmed uncomfortably under her watchful gaze and her words.

"In third grade? Babe, you were cute," She tried saying with a straight face but could not get away with it for long.

"Well, back to the point of all of this." He smiles as he looks away from her. He starts again settling his eyes on her beautiful face. "Even back then, you were the girl of my dreams."

"There you go again with all that sweet talk." She snuggled against his body.

"Oh, you haven't even seen my A-game." He said, giving her bare side a squeeze.

"Oh Lord, help me if that's true." She commented, leaning towards him and he towards her.

Later that day...

"What about this one?" Nathan hears from behind him. He turns around to see his wife emerge from their en-suite bathroom. His breath is taken away when his eyes slide down her body in the sexy black dress that she had picked out. The dress had thin spaghetti straps holding the material up against her body with a v-neck that left little to the imagination. There was a slit that showed off a good portion of her upper leg on one side.

She smiles a wicked smile when his eyes are still glued to her shapely legs a minute later.

"Nathan." She says his name, eyebrows raised, trying to get his attention.

"You are too sexy for your own good." He answers, sliding his eyes back up to her face. She looked like a Goddess; her blonde hair, curled, pulled back over one shoulder and kept in place with a shiny hair clip.

She blushed a pretty shade of pink but smiled and said, "thank you. You don't look too bad yourself." But then she laughed. "There's something wrong with your collar. Let me fix it."

As Haley did her thing, Nathan's eyes were wandering again. They slide down her cleavage as he brought his hands up her sides, admiring her curves. Then his hands landed on her back and he felt nothing but her skin. "You're killin' me, Hales."

"You like it?" She sent him her own smirk, as he vigorously nodded. "Alright, I'm done." She slide her hands down his button-up white shirt, smoothing out some of the wrinkles. She couldn't help but notice how his broad chest filled out his shirt. She also couldn't help biting her bottom lip as her hands wandered lower to his body. She could definitely feel the contours of his abs through his shirt.

At that moment, her eyes met his. She smiled sweetly up at him. "You look very handsome." After a pause she questioned, "you don't think it's too much?"

"No. You are the cutest, the hottest. You are a true masterpiece." He said, taking her hands in his, bringing them to his lips. "You are too good to be true and there is nothing better than you." He let go of one of her hands and set it gently in her hair. He brought her to him so there was no space between them and gave her forehead a sweet kiss.

She hummed a content sigh, leaning into him even more than before. When he pulled away, she held on for dear life. Raising off the ground a little on her tip toes to give him a proper kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

...

In between kisses, Haley asked, "So, I'm guessing... I... should go... with this one... and not... the red one."

"Are you kidding me?" Nathan broke off the kiss to once again gaze down his wife's sexily clad body. "That dress brought me to my knees. I just wanted to rip it off of you. I don't think we could have been able to leave if you had worn that one. But this one, it's... There are no words for this... Now that I think about it- let's not go at all. I think I would have much more fun trying to take this dress off of you... with my teeth. Don't you think?"

As he asked the last question, he leaned down to kiss her neck with an open-mouthed smooch, probably leaving his mark on her neck. He was doing his best to persuade her to see why they should stay home and not go out. It was amazing reaping the benefits of his persuasion. Boy, could that man kiss!

Haley could feel her sanity slipping away from her. The longer he left his mouth on her skin the more she slipped away. And there was only so much she could take until she threw in the towel on their evening plans.

"Nathan. Your mother set this up. We can't disappoint her." Haley sighed as his mouth left her skin but his arms turned her around so that her back was to his chest. And he continued his ministrations on her neck, moving her head to the side for better access. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her to him.

When he started to inch the black strap down her arm, that's when she had to put a stop to this or they wouldn't be able to leave. She unwrapped his arms from her torso and turned back around, stopping the movement of his lips on her neck. She almost said, '_to hell with it,'_ and threw her arms around his neck once again, dragging him to her. But instead she gave him a simple peck on the cheek, giggling after she pulled away.

"What? What's so funny?" Nathan asked.

Haley grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bathroom.

"Alright." He commented nodding his head, thinking something was going to happen.

"Hey, get your mind out of the gutter, mister. I just got some lipstick on your cheek." Haley reached for a towel, wetting it down to bring to the stain on his cheek.

He smirked at her as she wiped the red lipstick off of his cheek. Then a more serious expression graced his face.

"You know I don't really need all of this. I don't need to go out, we could stay in like last night. Because last night was perfect. All I really need is you, next to me, your hand in my hand because babe, you're my escape. You know I had all these plans in life, all these things I wanted to do, places I wanted to go. But I don't need any of that. I don't need the vacations or fancy destinations. All I need in this life is you and your crazy love."

* * *

**Could you guess the song?**

**AN: By the way, I love this song. It was my favorite song for a while. It still might be! Everytime I hear it, it gives me all the feels. If you could not guess it, I might be extremely disappointed in you. Reviews are very much appreciated and enjoyed by yours truly.**** Also, if you want a song let me know... **

**AN2: Summer is upon us! It's in full swing! I went to Idaho with my dad last week. I had wanted to get this chapter to you guys before I left but the internet that I was using last week was on the fritz and would not work, so I would type some things and then go to save it and lose like 100 words so I just decided to give up until a later time. I worked a weekend at the restaurant that I worked at last summer because there was a wedding that weekend and almost the whole staff was in the wedding and they would've had to close for the weekend if I hadn't worked for them. So I made some spending money for the summer and hopefully I can save some of it as well. **

**AN3: I know this one was shorter than the others and believe you me, I tried to add as much detail as I could without going on and on. I hope you liked it! **

**A little note: For those of you waiting for an update for Fall For You, I am just trying to get words in the form of ideas down on paper for the next chapter. I hope to have it done soon but my deadline for the next chapter, that I have imposed on myself, is the end of July because that is when the chapter takes place in the story. **

**'Kay bye!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, here is another installment. I got started on this one almost immediately after I finished the last chapter that was updated but I lost inspiration when I couldn't listen to the song because I didn't have any internet for about a month. Then I got busy with school/work. ******I thought I would have plenty of time during the closure.** I've only recently got back to it. I hope you are all doing well during this whole COVID-19 thing! Stay safe!  
**

**Also, this fic is more off of the music video than the song because it's not a song that really tells a story. It's also a little jumbled, like I threw it together, but hey I thought that anything was better than nothing. I didn't know how to make it better. If you have any ideas that could make it better, please let me know.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this song, lyrics or these characters. **

* * *

A young woman sat in a dimly lit room with various instruments surrounding her. She looked about the room, finding a few woodwind and brass instruments neatly set in their stands and cases on the walls. There were a few guitars of different sorts, a base here, an acoustic over there. A few percussion instruments were strewn about the room haphazardly, a tambourine-just one of the many, sitting on the closed lid of the piano. She was only interested in one of the assorted instruments though- the piano that she was sitting at. The room was a recording studio that was housed in the Red Bedroom Records office in Tree Hill, North Carolina.

She was the only one in the studio at this point in the day. It was, after all, kind of late on a Saturday. She could hear the thump of the base from the music playing downstairs at the Club, Tric, that was also housed in this building. In fact the person who owned the club also owned the recording studio, or at least it was in the family. She could only imagine what the club looked like at this point in the evening. On most Saturdays mid-semester, the place was crawling with college kids, celebrating after completing their various midterms. Tonight would be no different she supposed. It must have been overflowing with many different varieties of patrons.

She could hear the music stop and it was only then, when she could hear the faint sound of someone talking through a microphone that she remembered what day it was. It was the twelfth of October, the second Saturday of the month.

On every second Saturday of the month, they had set up a sort of concert series. They called it an all ages night, when high-schoolers could also come into the club to hear the bands that played. Anyone sixteen years or older could go in, of course if you were under the legal drinking age you received a special wrist band. They also had karaoke nights every once in a while. She liked to attend those to scout out new talent, she was after all a producer at said studio, not to mention a multiple platinum recording artist herself.

The brunette gently lifted up the lid that enclosed the black and white ivory keys. She softly swept her fingers across the keys, finding the proper placement for her hands. She didn't even need to look as she placed her left hand at middle 'C'. She had grown up playing after-all. Her old, beat-up childhood piano was actually sitting at home in one of the spare rooms. She felt like she hadn't touched it in ages. And with that thought she pressed down on the keys, she already had the melody memorized.

She sang the first word and immediately stopped. Her eyes filled with tears as her mind went through the words of the first verse and to the moment they reminded her of.

_Last Saturday, early evening..._

_"Hales, you have to come out with us. It's tradition." the speaker on the line said. She had called to finalize their carpool plans._

_"Brooke. I don't really feel like it. I'm just not feeling like I'm in the clubbing mood tonight." Haley whined and thought to herself 'or this week or every again, really.'  
_

_She was telling the truth. Truthfully, she felt like she was dying, dying from a broken heart. It was only yesterday morning that everything with Nathan had come to a head. The wounds were still raw and fresh in her mind. She felt like she hadn't moved from the room, the bed really since he had left. But she didn't want to air her family's dirty laundry to their friends, Brooke being the only one that knew what was going on with her current relationship problems.  
_

_"Drown your sorrows then. Just as long as you come out." _

_She thought about it and with a shit load of pleading on Brooke's part, she realized her friend was right. She could spend tonight forgetting everything that had happened the last couple of days. __She decided then and there that she would not let the fight get to her during her night out with her friends. She thought, 'it all starts when I hang up.' _

_That meant that she needed to take a shower. It had to be a quick one though because she didn't have that much time before Brooke would be there to pick her up. It was tradition after all.  
_

_As soon as she hung up, that's exactly what she did. She took a deep breath and went for it. She rolled out of the King-size bed and walked to the bathroom, not even bothering to pick out what she was going to wear. She figured she would determine that after; even if she didn't quite feel like this was the greatest idea, she had to start somewhere._

_She undressed and hopped in the warm shower, deciding to also shave her legs.  
_

_After spending as much time as she could allow under the water, she turned if off. Stepping out, she grabbed a towel from a nearby hook and dried off, wrapping it around her small frame. She wrapped her brunette hair up, so it would dry to her liking. After moisturizing and pampering her skin, she left the bathroom, making her way to the shared master closet. She looked longingly at the side of the closet that had all of his things on it and then bypassed it altogether.  
_

_As she looked through the various clothing pieces she had, she came across a little red number, with a boat neck and capped sleeves. She couldn't remember the last time she wore it. She decided to go with it, after not finding anything else that piqued her interest. _

_She ended up going all out. She deserved it after all. After donning her chosen outfit (complete with accessories), she went back to the bathroom and set about making herself look presentable to the masses.  
_

_..._

_A few hours later she was sitting at the bar with Brooke working on her third drink. Their group was facing the door at this point in the night. Later in the evening, when they got a little more alcohol in them they liked to see if any good prospects for the night walked in, having surveyed the entire patronage already. Most of them were still single or not otherwise engaged with a significant other. Haley was, in fact, the only married one in the group, if only just. There was one other that had a serious boyfriend of a few years. Both she and Haley were mercilessly teased about their ability or inability to look at another man objectively. _

_They were now at that point, having started before the brunette, because she had shown up to the club late. Her friends were definitely borderline alcoholics. Any chance they had to drink they would. 'It's five o'clock somewhere, right?'_

_She looked up just then, the conversation between the girls lagging a little as they ordered more drinks. That's when she spotted him. She didn't know how long he had been standing in the doorway of the club, but it couldn't have been long. None of her friends noticed him. Either that or they didn't say anything if they did._

_There was something to be said about her state of mind that she hadn't even noticed some of his friends sitting in the corner of the bar. That's where he headed as she glanced over his form. _

_She shivered as if someone had just spilled a glass of ice-cold water all over her. He looked good. No, he looked great- so handsome in a navy blue shirt that brought out the cerulean-hue of his eyes. It was almost hard to watch him, but she also couldn't look away. It hurt to see him look that good. She vaguely wondered if he knew what he was doing to her. She pushed that thought out of her mind because he always looked good, whatever he was wearing or not wearing.  
_

_By that time, he was nearly to his group of friends. He must have felt her eyes on him because he stopped and looked around. He glanced at her, their eyes meeting. He turned away once again, smirking as he did so. She let out the breath that she didn't realize she was holding since the moment he walked in._

_He knew exactly what he was doing to her and her already fragile and broken heart. _

...

She came back to herself just then, reminding herself that she was, while not necessarily in the public eye at the moment, in a studio that was connected to a night club. Not the best place to cry. She should be at home where she could be alone and cry to her heart's content. And that's when she decided to go when she couldn't stop a few tears from trickling down her face. She swiped her hand to collect the few tears, trying to get rid of the wetness.

It was wonder she had any tears left to cry. Her tear ducts had to be working overtime, what with all of the crying she'd been doing lately. One second she would be fine and then something would set her off. She would either get really angry, furious really or really sad. She almost wondered if something else other than the situation at hand was setting her emotions and hormones off.

That's what she felt. She felt off, off her game.

She returned the piano lid to it's position covering the keys, standing up and walking over to the studio door that led to the booth and the lights. After making sure everything was locked up, she made her way out of the building and to her waiting car. Once she was outside, a cold October breeze made it's way across her face, making her eyes water even more. She shivered in her sweater thinking she should've brought something a little warmer to wear. It was an unseasonably cold evening in North Carolina.

Once she was safely tucked away in her car and turned it on, she could no longer hold in the tears that had threatened to spill earlier inside. They slowly spilled down her cheeks and dropped off into oblivion. She put the mirror down and looked at her tear-stained face, wanting to grab a tissue to wipe at the wet spots. She looked awful. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her face blotchy.

It was a good thing she was going home because she was in no way ready to talk to anyone, much less be around anyone at the moment. Her face certainly showed that.

She glanced over to the passenger seat searching for any sign of the tissues. She knew she had some in the car, she always kept some in there, just in case.

Rummaging through the mess on the seat, she did not find them and looked behind her at the back seat, thinking maybe she had tossed them back there at some point. When she looked back though, something else entirely caught her eye. Perched on the backseat was a picnic basket sitting atop a fringed wool blanket. Hanging off of the corner of the basket was a tan wool Fedora.

To most people, this site would warm their heart, but seeing what was in her backseat brought more tears to her eyes. It also brought a memory from the back of her mind to the front and center.

A couple of weeks ago, almost a month ago now, the newly married couple had gone on a short hike, complete with a picnic lunch at their destination, a picture perfect lake nestled in the nearby hills. At one point during their day together, during lunch, they had made a game out of throwing the grapes to each other to see who could catch the most. Nathan had won of course. Then a few minutes later, he had pulled her close so she was leaning against him. He proceeded to feed the grapes to her as if she was a queen, his queen.

They had been happy that day and for many before that. It certainly showed on her face as they sat eating lunch and then later making out on their picnic blanket.

The view had been wonderful. The sun glinting off of the surface of the lake. The cloudless blue sky above them. The mountain peaks around them. It was beautiful.

She was brought back to the present when a car that had driven into the lot looking for a parking place, honked their horn at her. She figured they were waiting for a spot and she was taking up a primo spot, right up front. She turned back around to make sure she was ready to go and pulled out into the night.

...

_A few days earlier..._

_Haley Scott sat on the bed in the darkened master suite, the relentless tears coursing down her face. Used tissues were strewn about the room and on the bed. She had a plush throw wrapped around her small frame, but the warmth of the blanket did nothing to comfort her or stem the uncontrollable sobs wracking her body._

_Less than an hour ago, she had to watch as the one man who once said that he would always be there for her stormed out of the room. She had followed him begging him not to go, pulling on his sleeve as he opened the door. He turned ripping the material out of her grasping hands and slammed the door. She hadn't stopped crying since that moment._

_Before that, her day had been going really well too, or so she thought._

_This latest fight was stupid, at least that's what she thought. She thought they had something good. It was only during the confrontation that he said that he had been holding onto something that wasn't working anymore and it was a long time coming. They had been torturing each other for too long, dancing around their issues._

_She on the other hand could still feel the white hot flame of their relationship. He was her whole world and when he walked out the door, she felt like her world had stopped turning. She could feel her heart breaking into a thousand different pieces in that moment. That's when her tears had started to fall._

_..._

_After the last vestiges of tears had been spilled all she felt was numb. She laid in bed for a few hours, wallowing in the feeling of indifference that followed. She didn't get up to eat, to answer the phone that kept ringing, she didn't even close her eyes to sleep away her emotionless existence at that moment in time. She felt well and truly alone in the world in the silence of the bedroom she shared with her husband._

_Thinking of him, her anger swelled. His perfect face and sculpted body flooded her mind and she just wanted to throw something at the image. All she knew is that she would not answer if he called at that moment. She was so mad at him and her anger flared, sending her into an uncharacteristic fit of rage that she was just glad no one was around to witness. She was throwing pillows off of the bed, scattering the blankets on the floor. Once she stood up she wreaked havoc on the room around her, sending books flying off of tables and a lamp thrown against a wall here, a picture frame tossed over there._

_When she finally settled down, she looked around the room. Resigning herself to the fact that throwing a tantrum was not going to solve anything. It was nearing midnight now. Even with her earlier anger at him, she hoped that he wasn't out at some bar somewhere, or God forbid, dead in a ditch somewhere._

_She decided to just check on him. She couldn't rest easy not knowing where he was, if he was safe. Now how to go about finding out. She didn't want to seem weak by being the one to crack open her phone first to call him. She decided that she would call his brother, Luke. That would be the most likely place he would go, if he wasn't home. She did just that and breathed out a sigh of relief after learning that he was passed out in the guest room there._

_After hanging up, she cried herself to sleep and woke up exhausted the next morning, spending most of the hours of the next few days in bed._

...

Haley was sitting at the piano at the house that they share when she heard the faint sounds of footsteps on the front walk. She glanced at the time. She noticed it was quite late at night.

'_I wonder who that could be, and __at this time of night.' _She wondered almost out loud. There was no one around to hear her anyway. Why use decorum now?

She waited for a knock but it never came. Her curiosity got the better of her. She set down the spiral notebook in her hands that she had been using a few moments earlier and almost got up off the worn piano bench.

Before she could though, the door opened. She thought it weird because she could've sworn she locked the door earlier. She must not have been in her right mind still because it didn't even register that there was someone else out there in the world that had a key to the house.

She was completely surprised when the person walked in. The person in question stopped when he saw her and an understanding passed between the two.

An hour later...

Nathan was laying on their newly made bed. Just that evening in an attempt to get the fight and Nathan off of her mind, Haley had washed their sheets and remade the bed with the freshly laundered sheets. Nathan was definitely feeling the benefits of being at home in his own bed again after not sleeping in it for a week or two.

He noticed their mattress was so much better than his brother's guest room mattress. That thing had been as hard as fuck.

But it was nowhere near how heavenly the mattress had felt from their first night as husband and wife, that was actually not so long ago. That thing was the bomb. He remembered waking up and feeling so comfortable that he hadn't wanted to get out of that bed. It had all worked out because neither did she.

Thinking of their first morning as husband and wife reminded him of the rest of their honeymoon. It was one of the most amazing and exhilarating times of his life. They had gone to Hawaii and done all of the touristy things. They went scuba diving and surfing, zip-lining and hiking. There was even a couple's massage included with the honeymoon package that had felt wonderful. He remembered the look on her face as she glanced at him before the masseuse had started. She had a smile on her face that had stretched ear to ear. He could tell that she loved this new and exciting experience and that she could share it with him. He felt the same way.

At one point, they had the hotel pool to themselves. He was sitting on a lounger when she had beckoned him over to the side. She waved her arms around trying to get him to get in with her. He hadn't. He leaned down to drop a kiss on her lips after she had gestured for him to do so. Instead of meeting him for the kiss she had pulled him in to the pool. He tried to get her back and an all out splash war had been started. They were like two little kids, splashing each other full in the face while they had full reign of the pool.

He was brought back to reality when the en-suite door opened and the woman who had occupied his thoughts for most of his waking moments (and many of his sleeping ones as well) for the last few years walked into the room, wearing a robe over her tiny little frame.

As she got into bed, he knew he should say something, something about what had happened nearly two weeks ago.

"Haley, we should... we should talk about, about what happened." He sat up in the bed, stuttering over some of his words, waiting for the expression on her face to sour.

Haley looked at him with such love in her eyes then. She crawled over his body, knocking him down and hugged him. He was holding on just as tightly as she was. She answered, "Nathan. I don't really care at this point. I'm just so happy you're back where you belong."

When they pulled apart from each other, she had tears in her eyes. He leaned over and kissed them away in a soft and tender lip lock, wiping at the tears as he did so. "I am so sorry, Hales, for what I said. Seeing you at the club last weekend got me thinking about us, about our life together. And how much I miss it, miss you."

In his mind's eye he pictured her last weekend. He remembered walking into the club, and spotting her right away. She looked great in her red dress. At the time he couldn't quite place where he had seen her wearing it. In hindsight, he remembered it was a dress she had worn on their honeymoon.

To anyone else, she just looked like any other girl, a very pretty one at that, having a night out on the town with her girlfriends. But he knew her better than that. He could see the tall-tale signs of fatigue in her shoulders, and the hurt and sorrow in her eyes, even from afar.

For a second he forgot why he was even there. All he wanted to do was say 'screw it' and head right over to her and take her in his arms. He wanted to kiss the hurt away, the hurt that he had put there. He wanted to make it all better. He wanted to take her home and make love to her as long as it took to prove to her that what he had said was nowhere near the truth. He would be glad to prove it to her right there in that crowded bar, if she would let him.

He didn't, he turned his body towards the back corner and walked over to his friends, feeling her eyes on him. He couldn't take it though. He had to glance at her again. Their eyes met and it was like time stopped.

Haley's voice brought him back as she said, "Please, Nathan. No more talking tonight. I just want to be with you."

She didn't have to ask him twice. He had looked forward to this since the moment he had walked out the door. He flipped them over so he was on top, lifted up his left hand so she could see it and said, "this is forever Hales." He cupped her face and noticing a tear make it's way down the contours of her face, he wiped it away with his thumb. Even after there was no trace of the tear on her face he continued caressing her skin with his thumb.

His eyes traced the contours of her face. His eyes lingered on her lips which had tilted up into a half smirk on one side. She said his name, bringing his eyes back to hers with the sound of her voice. "Make love to me, Nathan."

He wasted no time in doing just that.

* * *

**Shout out to Naley12 for being the first to review on that last chapter and she guessed the right song as well! And also, thanks for the kind words! Thank you for all of the reviews... Please keep them coming! The song for the last chapter if you didn't or couldn't guess was "Die a Happy Man" by Thomas Rhett. Let's see who can guess this one...  
**

**Do you know the song? It's one of my favorites. If you don't know, it's just loosely based on the music and music video. The whole premise is there but the details are a bit different. Please tell me what you think by leaving a review. All of your words are like music to my ears, so let me have em!  
**


End file.
